Riddick: Gateway to the Underverse
by Rhadeya
Summary: What happened to Kyra was terrible. What's been happening to Jack is far worse... When Boss Johns and his crew get an assignment to capture and return an escaped female convict, they have no idea of the trouble they're walking into, nor that the job will bring them face to face with Riddick once more... Please R&R (title may change)
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note**: This is set post-Riddick and will contain spoilers for all previous movies in the franchise. It's an idea that's been going around in my head since the Kira thing in Chronicles and I've finally decided to write it :)

* * *

Colonel Robert "Boss" Johns sat in the pilot seat of his ship and stared out at the universe, mulling over the information he had finally garnered about his son. Several months had passed since the encounter with Riddick on that god-forsaken planet, and yet he still hadn't managed to put the ghost of his son to rest. He wasn't sure if it was that he didn't trust the information Riddick had given him, or that he did. He knew that his son had had some issues with drugs in the past, he'd even helped him through rehab at one point. But the thought that he would have been willing to sacrifice a child to save his own ass was something that the older man couldn't wrap his head around.

The sound of a new job being received onto their system pulled him from his reverie and he shook his head, knowing that the questions would remain unanswered. Pushing the thoughts of the past from his mind, he turned to his screen and brought up the details of the new job. His eyebrows rose as he read the information supplied, and the amount of bounty being offered. As he re-read the details of the job, he heard movement behind him and smiled as Dahl slid into the co-pilot seat.

"So, new job then?" she stated, the question in her voice asking for details.

"Yeah, so it would seem," he replied, turning the screen so she could read the details. The non-committal noise she made told him that he wasn't the only one confused by the job.

"Am I reading this right?" she wanted to know, surprise in her voice.

"If you're reading it as _"go find and bring back some slip of a girl that some merc consortium have lost" _then yeah, you are reading it right," he confirmed with a sigh. While it wasn't their normal work, they had been specifically requested for the job and they could use the unusually high sum being offered.

"Set course for the Jeneager system?" she queried, knowing better than to argue with her captain.

"Yes, Dahl, set the course. We'll check her last known location and see what we find," he sighed again, settling back in his seat and letting his very capable second-in-command take the helm. Dark thoughts intruded again and he lost himself in the memories of the past as his ship sped towards the future.

###

In the shadows a slender figure moved silently, keeping herself hidden from prying eyes. Loose clothes hid the curves of hip and breast, and a shaved head helped with the disguise of being a young man. A scarf wrapped around her throat and lower face hid her full lips and delicate chin, further adding to the disguise. A shiver ran through her as the cold air of night bit through the thin garments she wore but she struggled on, having no money to buy warmer items. She had been running for weeks, ever since she had escaped her prison, and she was too afraid of capture to stop and rest. Hunger was making her weak and the scars of her captivity were making her paranoid. She was convinced that monsters hid around every corner, ready to pounce and destroy her.

The tantalising smells of cooked meats made her stomach rumble in protest at being empty and she moved towards the smell before she knew what she was doing. Several large pieces of meat were sizzling away on a make shift grill, that hung over a fire roaring away in an old oil drum. Standing in a doorway a few feet away, she watched and waited to see who was cooking the meat. Her instincts told her this was a trap, her brain screaming at her to run away as fast as she could. But her body, starved and weak from running, had other ideas and she darted from her hiding place, snagging a piece of hot meat from the grill. Ignoring the pain in her hands as the meat burned her skin, she ran back down the alley and into the safety of the shadows.

She slipped into the dark opening of an abandoned house, one she had been staying in for several days, and crouched on the floor. She held her breath, straining to hear any signs that she had been followed. She waited for several minutes, breathing shallowly, convinced that her pursuers would step through the door at any moment and take her back to Hell. The sounds of the night were all she could hear and she relaxed, bringing her misbegotten bounty to her lips and tearing at it hungrily with her teeth.

The meat, which her tired brain refused to even contemplate trying to identify, tasted divine. With little seasoning, the rich smoky flavour of the meat filled her senses and she had to remind herself to chew rather than just swallow the pieces she tore off. She had a small stash of water hidden in the building and she reached for one such container as she continued to hungrily devour her prize. Taking two large gulps to wash down the mouthfuls, she was surprised to find that she had eaten the entire piece of meat she had stolen. Her hunger finally sated, the exhaustion she had been vainly trying to keep at bay finally overcame her and she slipped into a deep sleep.

###

Johns stepped through the doorway of the run down house, his eyes already adjusting to the darkness within. He stopped when he saw the body on the floor, cursing that their trap had been sprung by the wrong person. Something about the unconscious figure on the floor made him pause and he knelt down, deftly turning over the scrawny waif. A grunt of surprise escaped his lips as he saw that the starving, half dead kid at his feet was in fact their quarry and that the plan had worked. A strange jolt of something akin to recognition ran through him as he gently scooped the girl into his arms and carried her out of the hovel she called home this week.

"This is her?" Dahl asked sceptically, emerging from the shadows ahead of him and looking at the girl he cradled against his chest.

"So it would seem," Johns replied, a strange catch to his voice making Dahl look at his sharply. "We're not reporting success just yet though, Dahl. Something about this feels off and I'm not handing this kid over until I know what makes her so goddamn valuable." His tone brooked no argument and, though she would never admit it openly, she too felt something was terribly wrong with this assignment. She silently nodded her agreement and was surprised to see her friend sigh in relief, tightening his grip on the girl he carried. Sure that they were probably walking into a world of hurt, as they had when they had tried to apprehend Riddick, she followed his lead anyway, knowing where she belonged and that she would defend her crew mates or die trying.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Author's note**__: having watched Riddick several times now, I've really got some good ideas how to carry out the idea I want to run with ;-) And no, the biceps on Boss Johns have absolutely *nothing* to do with this story, nope, not at all ;-) Passage in italics is flashback. Rating increased due to the content of this chapter, you have been warned!_

* * *

Johns sat on the small chair next to his bunk, looking at the young woman who lay sleeping on the bunk. Something about her tugged at memories deep in his mind but he couldn't quite get his brain to focus on the memory in question. He wrinkled his nose at the smell emanating from the girl, who apparently hadn't bathed in the several weeks since she had freed herself from her previous confinement. He was fairly sure that the smell would take some time to get out of his quarters, but he had more important issues to deal with than how his quarters smelled. Questions raced through his mind, questions he wanted answers to before he handed this young woman over to the Company.

His musings were interrupted by a gentle knock on his cabin door. After a few moments, the door swung open and a petite woman walked through the opening carrying a small bowl of water and some cloths.

"Everything ok Boss?" she asked, her voice low.

"Yeah, Mara, everything's fine," he answered with a slight smile. After losing Moss and Lockspur, and rescuing Luna, he had found himself short one person. While he had plenty of people wanting to join his crew, he had taken on an unlikely candidate in the form of Lucy Mara. At a little over 5 feet in height and with plenty of curves, she wasn't your usual female mercenary. But, while she didn't seem like the sort of woman who could take down some muscle bound convict twice her size, she was a lot harder than she looked. He knew, from first-hand experience, that she could put a guy flat on his back in under 2 minutes, and without throwing a single punch. He had been on the wrong side of her ire only once, but that was sufficient for him to be impressed enough by her skills to hire her.

"You want to stay while I clean her up?" she asked, one delicate eyebrow raised.

"No, I'll be in back, checking the gear," he replied, hastily vacating his seat. He paused by the door as he exited the room, his breath catching in his throat as he watched Mara kneel down, her vest top riding up at the back to expose a strip of pale pink skin.

Closing the door firmly behind him, he walked back towards the equipment bay, his heart hammering in his chest, as it did every time he was near her. The first time he'd met Mara, they'd had their disagreement and she'd put him on his back, ending up perched on his chest. Rather than being annoyed or intimidated, he'd found the whole encounter a total turn on. The problem he had was that he had spent every night since then having erotic dreams about her, and woke each morning with a cock harder than stone.

"Boss," Dahl said, as he walked into the equipment bay.

"Dahl," he acknowledged her with a nod. He caught the smirk that was tugging at her lips and his eyes narrowed. She met his stare openly, the glint of amusement in her eyes telling him that his issues with Mara were perhaps not as private as he'd hoped.

"How's Mara?" the blonde asked, her tone and expression innocent.

"Cleaning up our guest," he replied, not rising to the bait.

"Why don't you just do her, Boss?" she wanted to know, as blunt and straight to the point as she usually was.

"It's not a topic open for discussion Dahl," he warned, his tone cold.

"She wants you," she told him with a shrug, always one to get in the last word. With a shake of her head, she turned and walked towards the front of the ship, where all the tiny crew cabins were located. With a sigh, he moved to the back of the equipment bay and picked a sharpening stone out of a small drawer.

Taking a seat on one of the new hogs, he drew the small dagger that he now kept at the small of his back and began to run the stone along the blade. His father had taught him how to use a blade at the age of five but he hadn't seen the need to carry one, preferring instead to use a gun. After the encounter with Riddick however, he had taken the time to sew a scabbard into each pair of trousers he owned and always made sure he kept the dagger equipped. His mind wandered back to the night he and Riddick had had to fight their way back to the ships, surrounded by dozens, maybe hundreds of the mud creatures on that godforsaken planet. The guilt over leaving an injured man to face those creatures alone had not diminished in the months since that night, though some would say he should feel no guilt about leaving a man like Riddick in that situation. The memories of the planet came flooding back in sickening Technicolor as he sharpened his blade, the sound of the stone on metal strangely comforting. He was pulled from his memories by the sound of a startled yell from the direction of his quarters.

###

Mara knelt down beside Johns' bunk, waiting for him to leave before she would start cleaning up the waif laying on the hard sleeping platform. She heard him pause at the door and was thankful her back was to him, so he couldn't see the smirk that tugged at her lips. She found him attractive and she knew the feeling was mutual, especially after what she saw a few nights before they had gotten this job. What confused her was why, knowing how he felt, he made no move to do anything about it. She already knew from Dahl that there was no-one in his life; it was one of the first things she'd learned after she was hired on to this crew. The two women had talked openly about the guys on the ship and the men they'd had in their lives, including that Dahl and Johns had been involved briefly. Mara was a little taken aback when she learned that Dahl had been intimate with the infamous convict Richard B. Riddick, and more than a little surprised at how gentle and considerate a lover Dahl described him to be.

Thinking about the latest conversation between the women, only a few days before, brought up the memory of what she had seen and heard the night she found out Johns was attracted to her.

_Woken by bad dreams, and unable to go back to sleep because of the feeling of unease she couldn't explain, Mara slipped quietly out of her quarters and down to the equipment bay. In the darkness of the bay, she began the Tai-Chi movements that had always helped relax her enough for sleep in the past. An hour passed quickly and eventually she felt as though she was ready to head back to her bunk and try again at getting some sleep. As she padded silently back towards her quarters, she froze, hearing her name whispered in the darkness. The longing in the tone made her frown and it took all of her concentration to hear where the whisper had come from. She crept forward as she realised she could see the faintest amount of light coming from ahead. With a start, she realised that she stood at the threshold of Johns' quarters, and that he hadn't fully closed his door. Knowing it was wrong, but unable to resist, she peeked through the open door and clapped her hands over her mouth to muffle the gasp she felt rise in her throat at the sight that greeted her. Johns lay on his bunk, naked as the day he was born. The thin blanket was thrown back, covering him only from the knees down. What drew her attention, however, was his impressive erection. Her heart beat faster as she watched him writhe gently on his bunk, his hand stroking his cock as he moaned. She froze as he breathed her name, terrified she'd been caught red handed spying on her boss. His eyes remained closed and it took a moment for her to realise why he had said her name. Holding her breath she watched him, mesmerised, as he brought himself to his climax, moaning her name as he came. Her heart pounding in her chest, and turned on beyond belief, she silently slipped back to her quarters and her dreams that night were far from chaste._

The click of the door closing behind him brought her sharply back to the present. With a shake of her head, she turned back to the girl on the bunk. Carefully removing the items of filthy clothing the girl wore, Mara stripped her down to her underwear and gasped in horror. Every inch of the girl's skin was covered in bruises, scars or both. Some scars were dull and fading, indicating the wounds that created them had been inflicted years before. Others were still red, indicating the wounds had been inflicted within the past few months, just before she had escaped. The bruises were of about the same age, though several around her wrists and on her thighs indicated she had been assaulted since she won her freedom. Mara cursed, torn between wanting to clean up the poor creature before her and immediately reporting the obvious abuse the girl had suffered to her boss. Biting back the snarl that rose in her throat, she picked up one of the clothes and drenched it in the water, wringing it out and gently washing away the dirt covering the girl.

As she cleaned away the grime, the bruises and scars became more evident and Mara drew in a shuddering breath. The torture inflicted on the poor girl went beyond cruel to a new level of evil, one which was reserved for the likes of the Company. When she turned the girl over, however the full extent of the physical crimes against the girl became more apparent. Four evenly spaced marks about an inch in diameter marred the girls back and Mara openly cursed, knowing full well what the scars represented. The poor child had been subjected to an experimental cloning technique! She knew that when she had fully cleaned the girl up, she would find similar scars on her feet, her groin and her skull. She rolled the girl back onto her back and sat back on her haunches, unconsciously rubbing the back of her skull where her hair hid an identical scar. She knew she had to tell Johns what she knew, but was aware that she would also most likely have to divulge exactly _how_ she knew what she knew. It was a sore subject at the best of times but it was one she wasn't sure she ever wanted anyone to know, especially not her attractive employer. She knew, from bitter experience, that once someone found out what had happened to her, they treated her differently.

Like she wasn't entirely human anymore.

She studied the girl beside her, wondering why this particular child had been chosen to be subjected to the procedure. It certainly wasn't by choice, of that much she was absolutely certain. Was she a runaway, with no family to miss her? That was the usual type they went for. Pretty, strong, alone and usually _damaged_ were the criteria they judged suitability by. At least, that's what her torturer had told her when they put her through the same ordeal. She watched as the girl's eyes flickered open, supressing a sigh at the startled half scream the girl gave as she tried to scramble away and found herself too weak to do so.

"Don't worry," she reassured the girl, holding her hands up to show she meant her no harm. "I'm not going to hurt you. We're here to help."

"You're _mercs_," she accused, her tone laced with hatred.

"Yes, we are," Mara told her honestly. "We were given a job to recover and return you. But we're not going to."

"Why should I believe you?" the girl spat out, cowering in the corner of the bunk.

"Because of these," the older woman replied. Turning her back to the girl, Mara lifted her top so that the girl could see the scars on her back. The sharp intack of breath told her that the girl recognised them. Lowering her top, she turned back to face the girl.

"You've been through it too?" she breathed, her bottom lip trembling.

"I have," Mara confirmed, knowing how much suffering the girl was hiding behind her brave face. "My name is Lucy Mara, but everyone just calls me Mara. And you are?"

"My name is Jack," the girl said, lifting her chin defiantly. "Jack B. Badd."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note**: sorry for the long previous chapter, was on a roll *grin* Let's see what happens next, shall we? Oh, and there may be some more mild smut along the way too... if it gets too heavy, I'll put an unedited version on my website soon *grin*

* * *

A jolt of recognition shot through Mara as the girl spoke her name. _Jack B. Badd_ was the name the kid used who had stowed away on the Hunter-Gratzner, the ship that had gone down with her employer's son on board! Was this girl the child who had stowed away on-board, only to find herself stranded on an inhospitable planet with a convict murderer? But surely, that child had been a boy, travelling to the Tangiers system to live with his uncle?

"Jack?" Mara asked, her tone neutral. "Or should I call you Jennifer Audrey Kranston?"

"How do you know that name?" Jack gasped, the look of terror in her eyes telling Mara all she needed to know.

"I was on the crew that went looking for you after you ran," the older woman replied, watching her closely. "There was a huge reward for your return."

"I can't ever go back, please," Jack begged her desperately.

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me," Mara told her. "And I won't ever let them take you back, I promise."

"Why would you want to protect me?" came the fretful question.

"Because I know what happened to you, why you ran."

"You know nothing!" Jack spat out angrily.

"How much do you remember about the time before you ran away?" Mara asked calmly.

"Why?"

"Do you remember Kerry?" The question hit a nerve, because Jack looked stunned for a moment before her eyes opened wide in recognition.

"Ker?" Jack breathed in disbelief.

"The one and only," Mara laughed, giving the girl a little bow. She was a little taken aback when Jack launched herself into her arms, hugging her tightly. Mara gently stroked her back as the girl, who was little more than skin and bones, broke down and sobbed in her arms. She held her tightly until the racking sobs subsided, then gently prised Jack away from her so she could look at the girl she had once sworn to protect. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm so sorry I broke my promise to keep you safe."

"He did it to you too, didn't he?" Jack asked, though it was more a statement than a question.

"He did," the older woman confirmed sadly. "And it's my fault he turned to you!"

"No, it's not!" the girl denied, wiping away the single tear that ran down Mara's cheek.

"I'm sorry honey, but it is," Mara told her, shaking her head. "The only reason he turned on you is because I was in no fit state for him to abuse. If I hadn't fallen pregnant, he would never have beaten me into a miscarriage and I would have been healthy enough that he never would have turned to you for his amusement."

"Good God, Ker!" Jack exclaimed in horror. "That's why you disappeared?"

"Yeah, Jack," came the pained reply. "The beating he gave me that night put me out of action for weeks. By the time I recovered, he'd already had his fun with you and you'd run away. I volunteered for the search party, determined that when I found you, the two of us were going to disappear and start a new life."

"So how did you know I was on the Hunter-Gratzner?"

"After the search had exhausted every avenue on Earth, I figured you'd probably left," Mara explained. "So I tracked down all the ships that had left the planet around the time you went missing. I checked the vid feeds of each one, until I spotted you, shaved head and all."

"And by then, we'd crashed."

"When I heard that, I was convinced you'd died," Mara continued, her voice choked with emotion. "It was only after the reports came in about the death of that bitch Chillingsworth, that I knew you'd survived."

"And then what happened?" Jack wanted to know. "Why did you change your name? Become a _merc_?"

"You don't like mercs much, do you Jack?"

"The first one I met," the girl replied. "Wanted to kill me to save his own ass. The next one wanted the man who'd saved me to spent his life cryo-frozen. The ones after than sold me into slavery."

"Was that when they cloned you?" Mara asked.

"Yeah, I was only just fourteen and they did things to me that I thought I'd never have to go through again, after I ran away."

"And you've been with them ever since?" she asked. Seeing the nod of confirmation, she decided to answer the question Jack had asked not long before. "I changed my name after I left Earth. Joined the military for a few years, then signed on with a couple of merc crews. I figured if you were in the company of Riddick, the best way for me to find you was to find him. Never did though."

"So, it's Mara now then huh?" Jack asked with a smile. She leant forward and hugged her oldest friend, glad they were back in each other's lives.

"Yeah, and you can't tell anyone what we've discussed, ok?"

"No problem," Jack promised with a laugh. The two women embraced again, before Mara handed Jack the cloth. She didn't need to tell her what to do, the girl eagerly began scrubbing away the dirt that covered her.

"I'll be back soon, ok?" Mara asked, standing and moving to the door. She saw Jack's nod of confirmation and smiled, knowing the young woman would be ok. Wondering what the hell she was going to tell her boss about the situation, she opened the door and gasped in shock. Directly outside the door stood none other than Colonel Robert "Boss" Johns, and the look on his face told her he'd overheard most, if not all, of the conversation the two women had been having.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note**: So, Jack is alive and well (kinda), and is not Kira :p How is Riddick going to react when he finds out? And how is Johns going to react now he knows Mara's secret? Please review so I know how I'm doing, whether to carry on etc.

**Author's Note 2**: Sorry for the delay, RL has been total hectic and my muse ran off on holiday for a while :-/ Once my website is back up and running, the MA version of this chapter will be available there for the full Johns experience ;-)

**Chapter Warnings**: Mentions of rape, incest and sex.

* * *

Richard B. Riddick, the most infamous and notorious criminal in the known universe, sat in the pilot seat of his ship and stared at the screen before him. Ever since being left for dead by the Necromongers on the backwater planet with the mud demons, and then escaping with the help of Elder Johns, he had kept a close eye on mercenary communications. It had taken him less than a day to break the codes for the secure channels and tap into the private communications being sent directly to Johns. He kept tabs on him, making sure be available to help if his assistance was required. He wasn't a man to leave a debt unpaid, and unfortunately he owed Johns a pretty big debt. After all, the merc had not only come back for him and saved his life, but had kept his word and allowed Riddick to take the spare ship and leave. It was how he had come to learn of Johns new assignment, and it was the details of that which he was currently staring at in disbelief. He knew it wasn't possible, but the face was unmistakable, especially with the shaved head. There were two things he couldn't get his head around; the first was that the girl in the communication looked similar to Kyra but definitely wasn't her and the other was that as Kyra was dead, who the hell was the girl on his screen? What he couldn't deny though, was that the picture of the young woman on his screen was definitely an older version of his little Jack and he didn't know how that was possible. The only things he knew for sure was that Johns was hunting the girl and that he had to find out if the girl really was Jack. With a sigh, he set a course into the ship's computer and settled back, wondering with a smirk if he was going to see Dahl again when he ran into Johns and his crew.

###

Mara stepped out of Johns' quarters and closed the door behind her, giving Jack the privacy she needed to clean herself up. The look on her boss' face was one she had hoped never to see, but one which was inevitable given what he must have overheard.

"We need to talk," he said quietly. "As my quarters are occupied, shall we go to yours, so we can discuss this in private?"

"OK," she agreed. She watched him punch in a code that locked his door, securing Jack from escaping but also from harm. He indicated that she should go first and she cursed silently, knowing she was in big trouble. When Johns got angry or frustrated, he shouted but when he was furious, he spoke quietly as he had done to her a moment ago. She keyed open her door and stepped inside, flattening herself against the door to give him room to enter the tiny cabin. His arm brushed hers as he passed and she shivered at the spark of electricity that shot through her from his touch. She closed the door behind him and moved to her bunk, slumping onto the hard surface in defeat and burying her head in her hands.

###

Johns stood by the door of Mara's cabin and keyed a code into the pad to lock the door. He wasn't about to allow her to leave until he had the answers he wanted.

"Dahl," he said into the comm in his ear. "Mara and I need to have a discussion about a few things, and it may take some time. Why don't you and Luna go find something to eat?"

"Sure, Boss," she agreed with a smirk in her voice. "Whatever you say." He shook his head, knowing that tone from his second in command and well aware that she thought he had finally decided to make a move on Mara. The truth was, he had been ready to make a move on her, as soon as they had finished this particular job. But now, he wasn't sure what he did and didn't know.

"So, tell me," he told her, taking the ear piece out and placing it in his pocket. He leant back against the wall, arms crossed, and waited for her to begin her story.

###

Mara sat on her bunk, feeling her entire world crumbling around her. She wasn't sure where to begin, or how much he had overheard, so she took a deep breath and decided to start at the beginning.

"I was born Kerry Lucy Stanson," she began, her voice wavering with emotion. "My mother was Antonia Mara and my father was Colonel Jason Stanson." She paused when he drew in a deep breath, looking up at him in surprise. The look on his face said he knew her father's name, and that probably meant he knew what had happened to him. "She died in childbirth and he died in the battle against the Necromongers after the destruction of Furya."

"I remember the attack, I was part of that squadron," he supplied, gesturing for her to continue.

"I was raised in a home for military orphans," she continued, her voice stronger now. "When I was 13 I was collected from the home and taken to the house of an important figure on Earth. His wife had died in childbirth and he was left with a baby daughter. I was _hired_ to be nanny to the girl."

"Why didn't he hire a professional nanny?" he asked, although he had a sinking feeling he knew the answer to that question.

"He liked his female _employees_ young," she told him, a catch in her voice. "I'd been there less than six months the first time he _punished_ me for a transgression."

"Punished you?" the question came.

"Yes," she went on. "He beat me for burning the dinner one night. Over the next year, the beatings continued, getting more violent with each encounter. I was barely 15 when he finally stepped over the mark and stepped up his abuse."

"What happened?" he asked, needing to know the answer but not wanting to hear it either.

"After he had beaten me again, I slumped against his desk, barely conscious," she said, her voice lacking emotion, as if she were simply reciting something which had happened to someone else. "He grabbed my neck and pinned me to the desk, yanked down my trousers and raped me. Needless to say, I screamed my head off and that just turned him on all the more. After that, the only nights I had where I wasn't violently raped by him, was when he was away on business."

"Good God," he breathed, horrified by her tale.

"I spent the next ten years suffering at his hands," she told him, a single tear running down her face. "During that time, I fell pregnant four times. The first three times, his assistant gave me something to abort the foetus without his master knowing. The fourth time, he found out and beat me nearly to death. I miscarried but the damage he did had me laid up in hospital for weeks. It was then that he started abusing his daughter."

"Our prisoner?"

"Yes," she confirmed. "Jack, as she prefers to be known now, was only 12 when it happened. I got out of hospital to find she'd run away and I immediately knew why. I left the same day and went after her, determined to find her. My plan was to find her and then she and I would disappear, starting a new life together away from her father."

"So why the name change?" he wanted to know.

"When I left," she told him. "I wanted nothing to interfere with my plans. I'd been hiding credits away in a secret account, using my mother's maiden name. As soon as I walked out of that house, I became Lucy Mara. Had I found my charge, she would have become my little sister, Audrey Mara."

"I'm so sorry, Mara," he said, kneeling in front of her on the floor.

"Thank you," she replied sadly. "But I know the drill. I lied to you, which means you can't trust me, which means I can't be part of your crew."

"Usually, that would be the case," he agreed. "But you've never actually lied to me, have you? The name you go by is yours, just not entirely the one you were given at birth. I know your military history is real, I checked it out before I hired you. And I've never asked you about your childhood, so you've never had to keep that truth from me."

"But you still can't trust me, can you?" she asked, a tear falling onto her hands.

"You've just told me something incredibly personal and intimate," he replied, covering her hands with his. Neither of them missed the flash of heat that shot through them both at the contact. "You could have lied to me, covered up the truth, but you didn't. You trusted me enough to tell me the truth, as horrific as it is. How can I _not_ trust you after that?"

"Really?" she sighed. She wanted to pull her hands away, to break the contact that was affecting her so much, but she couldn't.

"Yeah," he nodded. "So have you ever...?" He stopped mid-sentence as she shook her head, answering his question without him having to ask it. "So, all you've ever known is the hurt he inflicted on you?"

"Yeah," she told him honestly. "I've seen porn, talked to other women so I know it can be good. Hell, Dahl and I were only talking about how good it can be a few days ago, but I've never wanted to find out for myself before, until I met you." She looked at him, her heart and soul in her eyes as she waited for his reaction to her confession.

"Do you trust me?" he asked, rising to his feet and pulling her up with him, so they were face to face. He smiled when she nodded nervously, placing his hand on the side of her face and stroking gently. He closed the distance between them, wrapping one arm around her waist but leaving her an escape route if she felt she needed one. He lowered his lips to hers, waiting for her to respond before he went any further. She kissed him back as if she had never been kissed before which, he realised, she hadn't been. He stepped back, breaking their kiss and smirking at the disappointed growl she gave. Going slowly, so as not to frighten her, he gently slid her vest top up, pulling it off over her head and throwing it carelessly to the floor. With practised ease, he undid the back strap of her bra and it joined her top. He knelt down to undo her boots and felt her trembling as she steadied herself against him. Her trousers and panties soon joined the other clothing on the floor and he stopped then, admiring the naked woman stood before him. She raised her chin defiantly, a challenge in her eyes in response to his frank and admiring appraisal of her.

.

Appearing braver than she felt, she returned the undressing favour and soon both mercs stood naked in her quarters. She swallowed nervously, unsure of what she was doing now that she was up close and personal with her boss. Timidly at first, then growing more confident, she began exploring his muscular body. She didn't care that the man before her was old enough to be her father; he had spent so much time in Cryo-sleep that, physically, he was at least fifteen years younger than his chronological age. She silently noted each moan of pleasure he gave, storing them away so she would know in future what he liked. His chiselled physique would make a man half his age jealous. There wasn't a spare ounce of fat on him, he was all muscle. She circled around him, tracing the scars that crisscrossed his body and feeling him shiver at her touch, oblivious to the fact that it was taking every ounce of his self-control for him not to pin her to the wall and bury himself inside her. Her hand slid down his chest and over his belly, coming to rest lightly on his cock.

.

He drew in a deep breath, wondering how the hell he was going to control himself when she was touching him the way she was. He was adamant that he would make sure she was completely ready before he took her, and that he'd stop if she asked him to. He let her explore his body, hiding a smile as she became more confident in her caresses. He gasped as she stroked his cock gently, slipping her other hand down to caress his balls. He'd been with his fair share of women, before and after his late wife, but none had ever been as innocent, and yet sexy, as the one touching him now. He'd never particularly enjoyed being the first lover for anyone before, but the thought of being so for her was strangely appealing.

"Do you trust me?" he asked her, somehow managing to keep his voice steady.

"Yes," she breathed, her voice wavering with desire.

"Good, because I've been wanting to do this for so long," he murmured, gathering her into his arms and kissing her firmly. She responded eagerly, stroking his back as he moved them towards her bunk. In one smooth movement he lifted her into his arms and laid her gently onto her bunk, moving to lay beside her so she didn't feel trapped. "I promise, I won't hurt you," he told her, waiting for her nod. He lowered his lips to hers, passion and more racing through him as he spent the night showing her exactly how enjoyable sex was supposed to be.

###

Finally clean, after so long on the run, Jack slipped into trousers and t-shirt that Mara had given her, sighing in pleasure at the feel of clean clothes against her damaged skin. The snorted in amusement at how loose the clothes were on her, another vivid reminder of her lack of nourishment since her escape. She snuggled down onto Johns' bunk, the familiar scent of her friend filling her nose as she brought the t-shirt up to her face. She knew that this crew must have been acting on orders to capture her, but she wasn't scared of having to go back. She knew that, if need be, she and Mara could disappear and never be found, but she wanted to see if Mara's boss was as kind as she'd said he was. As she drifted off to sleep, secure in the knowledge that she was safe from harm for the moment, she failed to see the name tag on the locker above her head that identified her captor as having the same name as the man who had wanted to kill her as a child...


End file.
